Hospitals are unique buildings, with waiting rooms, consultation areas, chapels, and wards all needing specific types of chairs. Choosing comfortable and durable upholstery is essential for a positive patient experience.
Patient chairs, often designed as recliners, are ideal for individuals who may need to sit for extended periods. They can help prevent pressure sores by distributing weight evenly and reducing discomfort.
Comfort
The physical comfort of patients and visitors is essential for their emotional well-being, ensuring a positive experience during the consultation or treatment process. Hospital chairs are a key component of this environment, contributing to the patient’s overall comfort and aiding in the recovery process. Medical chairs are available in a wide range of styles and designs, with options to suit diverse clinical settings. They feature innovative features to support efficient clinical workflow and enhance the patient experience in healthcare environments. Hospital chairs designed with adjustable features and ergonomic support provide critical support for patients undergoing medical procedures, ensuring comfort and stability throughout the treatment process.
Waiting areas and consultation rooms are often overcrowded, resulting in uncomfortable seating for both patients and visitors. Comfortable seating helps manage visitor flow, reduce crowding and makes the waiting period more pleasant for everyone involved.
Chairs with ergonomic designs, padded armrests and wider seats promote optimal patient comfort. They also allow for individualized adjustments to ensure proper spinal alignment and pressure distribution, which supports a healthy body posture. Additionally, medical seating is able to accommodate a variety of devices, including IV pumps and medication containers, allowing for easy access and administration.
For patients undergoing chemotherapy or other lengthy procedures in oncology wards, comfortable seating is especially important. These treatments involve sitting for prolonged periods, necessitating seating that allows patients to rest comfortably for long durations. Chairs with reclining features and adjustable seat dimensions help mitigate pain and discomfort associated with cancer treatment.
Hospital staff also needs comfortable seating to perform their duties. Ergonomic office chairs for staff room use feature adjustable seating and backrests, promoting an optimal working position while preventing common occupational issues like back strain. These chairs can be equipped with tables and trays for storage, or they may have built-in IV poles to facilitate treatment. They can also be designed with foldaway panels or tables for ease of access by caregivers and patients alike.
In addition to comfortable office chairs, hospitals need durable hospital couches for patient lounges and family waiting rooms. These chairs can be used as sofa beds to accommodate visiting relatives for overnight stays. They also need to be durable, puncture-resistant, fluid-proof and ligature-resistant to meet the demands of healthcare environments. Steelcase’s West Elm Health Collection offers seating solutions with a welcoming aesthetic and robust construction to meet these requirements.
Hygiene
Hospital chairs and furniture must be highly hygienic. They must be easy to clean, resistant to pathogens and bacteria and durable enough to withstand heavy use in demanding healthcare environments. They must also be comfortable and supportive, with a design that supports natural postures to reduce fatigue and discomfort for both patients and healthcare workers. For instance, chairs with crumb sweeps and removable arm caps and cushions make it easier to remove crumbs and other contaminants between uses. Hospital chairs made with antimicrobial fabrics and textured surfaces are ideal for hygiene, as well as chairs with breathable upholstery that helps minimize moisture buildup. In addition, more hospitals are creating respite spaces for healthcare workers where they can relax and recharge between shifts, and upholstered seating is preferred because it’s less likely to harbor bacteria than other types of fabric.
Hospital couches are designed to withstand the rigors of day-to-day use in medical and imaging centers, as well as provide comfort for patients during procedures such as x-rays, mammography and rehabilitation therapy. Wolverson X-Ray offers a range of specialist couches, including the Sonesta S3 and the Daycare Couch, to meet the varied needs of different procedures and examinations.
Healthcare and behavioral healthcare facilities that prioritize sanitation and infection control may choose not to include upholstery in their furniture pieces. Furniture in these settings must withstand bodily fluids such as blood, urine and body oils, salt solution, chlorine and other chemicals and a constant stream of visitors in 24/7 environments.
When a facility does incorporate upholstered furniture, they should inspect the chairs regularly for signs of wear and tear and loose components or malfunctioning mechanisms. They should also sanitize and disinfect them regularly, paying special attention to frequently touched surfaces and armrests. When choosing healthcare furniture, facility managers should keep abreast of advancements in clinical chair design and technology and incorporate these advances as they are introduced. This will ensure that the clinical furniture is able to continue supporting patient healing and comfort in the most effective way possible while remaining affordable over time.
Safety
Hospitals and healthcare facilities are busy, stressful environments. With the right seating solutions, patients, visitors and staff can enjoy optimal comfort during the healing process. There are a range of healthcare chairs that have different functionality and purposes, including lie flat chairs, gynaecological chairs and many others.
Whether they’re used in the patient room, waiting areas or staff lounges, healthcare furniture should be made from materials that are easy to clean. They should also be durable enough to withstand a range of environmental factors that are found in these types of spaces, such as bodily fluids, salt solution, chlorine and other chemicals.
Chairs that are used in patient rooms are typically plushly upholstered with armrests and have high backs. They also include options that allow a range of seating heights for users of all ages and levels of mobility. These chairs can help to reduce pressure on the body and prevent bedsores. They can also help to improve circulation, which can be beneficial for older patients who may be at risk of a number of conditions, such as dementia.
Other healthcare chairs, such as gynaecological and stair chairs, have specific uses that make them unique and specialised in their functionality. A stair chair, for example, is a good alternative to a bed for elderly patients who can easily become disoriented when lying in their bed for extended periods of time. It helps to prevent them from falling and can even aid in their rehabilitation by encouraging them to engage with members of their family and medical team.
When it comes to chairs for waiting areas and staff lounges, many hospitals are now moving away from traditional wooden pews in favour of more modern styles. These are often built to resemble the types of relaxed dining areas you would find in the high street. These can be a much more welcoming and homely environment for patients and visitors to sit in, as well as being more durable and easier to clean than upholstered healthcare chairs.
For hospital chapels, a range of options are available, including electric hospital chairs that can be adjusted by remote control. They can also be stacked and locked together for easy storage when not in use.
Durability
Hospital chairs need to be durable, as they will be used regularly for patient treatment and recovery. Many clinical furniture items are designed with this in mind, including features such as a hygiene gap to prevent bacteria from gathering on surfaces, and materials that are easily cleaned for hygienic purposes.
Patient chairs also have to be suitable for all shapes and sizes, which is why ergonomic design is such an important element of their construction. Having a chair that can be adjusted to suit the user’s posture and comfort levels ensures that they feel supported throughout their stay, making them more relaxed and comfortable. It also helps healthcare professionals by reducing their physical stress and strain, enabling them to work more effectively and efficiently.
When patients are feeling confident and at ease, they tend to respond better to treatment plans. This is because they will be more willing to comply with their care, and a comfortable chair helps to create a positive vibe in reception areas and waiting rooms, which can help to reduce anxiety.
In addition, if your patients are at risk of deconditioning due to their illness or condition, then a comfortable chair can help them recover more quickly. This is because a chair that can be lowered to lie flat allows them to take part in therapy activities without needing to move out of bed, which can help to reduce the length of their stay in hospital and improve clinical outcomes.
For example, our range of Kind beam seating is a great option for your wards, as it can be upholstered in a choice of premium, fire-retardant fabrics or healthcare-standard vinyls, and comes with a variety of tilt options and rise functions to support all users and ensure their safety. It can even be customised with optional extras like book boxes and linking tabs, to give your patients a sense of individuality that will help to boost their confidence during their stay.
For wards that need to cope with fast-paced acute ward environments, having a chair that can convert to a lie-flat position is essential. This will enable the quickest possible transfer between bed and chair, helping to increase throughput and allowing more space on wards for patient beds.
